California Pasta Salad

I made this for our dinner last night.  I've made it before because I had "yum" written by the recipe.  It comes from my "A Taste of the Country" cookbook.  This time I didn't have tomatoes or zucchini and didn't want to run to the store so I just left it out.  Bryn liked it and took some left-overs in her lunch today.  My nutritional facts are probably different because I used fat-free zesty Italian dressing.

Ingredients

• 1 pound thin spaghetti, broken into 1-inch pieces
• 3 large tomatoes, diced
• 2 medium zucchini, diced
• 1 large cucumber, diced
• 1 medium green pepper, diced
• 1 sweet red pepper, diced
• 1 large red onion, diced
• 2 cans (2-1/4 ounces each) sliced ripe olives, drained
• DRESSING:
• 1 bottle (16 ounces) Italian salad dressing
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

• Cook pasta according to package directions; Drain and rinse in cold water. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the vegetables and olives.
• In a large bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients. Drizzle over spaghetti mixture; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve with a slotted spoon. Yield: 10-15 servings.

Nutritional Facts1 serving (3/4 cup) equals 257 calories, 13 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 1 mg cholesterol, 567 mg sodium, 30 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 6 g protein.